Good Morning UPA Community,

I am writing to you today with news that the Santa Clara County Office of Education and the Santa Clara County Health Department, in conjunction with other surrounding counties, have agreed to extend the school closures to May 1, 2020.  This new date means that we are planning on returning May 4, 2020. 

Distance Learning Adjustments

  • Friday, March 27, will be an open tutorial day.  Teachers will be available via email and video conferencing.  This time will also allow for teachers to catch up on grading.  Students who are caught up in their studies will be given extension assignments to challenge themselves and continue learning. 

  • Marking Period 5 has been moved from April 10 to April 17.  The extension will give students more time to make up work due to technology challenges or the adjustment to distance learning.

  • We have sent out guidelines and resources to our teachers, so I expect to see new and innovative learning modules coming over the next few weeks

  • Spring Break is still planned for April 6-10.  Teachers will not be sending out work during this week but can provide extension activities upon request (before we go to spring break).  This is an excellent time for students to complete their Edgenuity courses – especially our seniors.

Technology for Distance Learning

  • We know that some of you are requesting hotspots, and we are calling every day to ensure they are delivered promptly. 

  • We still have Laptops available for check out; please reach out to Dorene McClung to arrange a pickup time.  DMcClung@upatoday.com

  • If you decide to lease or rent a hotspot from your cell phone provider, UPA will reimburse you for the rental cost for March and April.  More information to come

  • If you need to increase the data package you are using for home internet because of this pandemic, UPA will reimburse you for March and April.  More information to come

Prom

Prom has been postponed from April 25 to May 16.  The location and time will be the same.  The decision to hold the event is based on the approval of the state and county boards of health.  If we do not hear officially that groups of 250 can gather from both bodies by May 9, we will have to cancel prom for 2020.  In that case, all current prom bids would be refunded.

AP Testing

As of March 25, College Board has only released a general statement that they are working to adjust the AP exams so that students can take them from home.  The exams would be reduced to 45 minutes, and students could use any device to take the assessment.  There has not been a change of date announced. 

8th Grade Promotion and Graduation

Based on the current return date, we are hopeful of keeping both events as scheduled.  If we are not allowed to return by May 4, we will be postponing those events into June.  Our back-up dates will be June 9 for 8th Grade Promotion and June 12 for Graduation.  The decision to hold the events is based on the approval of the state and county boards of health.

Over the past ten days, I have received many emails from the entire UPA community.  We will get through this together. We are all united in the effort to prepare our students to excel in college or university. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have questions, concerns, or ideas about how we can improve the quality of our service and instruction.   Your resources have been shared with our staff, your feedback has been implemented, and your praise has kept us going strong.

Finally, I want to thank you for helping make your child’s education a priority.  You have the time and energy to balance working and to help keep your child stay engaged in their studies – you might just call that being a parent, but your efforts inspire me.  For those of you who are still going out into the world to ensure that we are healthy and safe – thank you.  Know that we continue to provide the best educational experience for your child that we can – we owe you that and so much more.

Sincerely,

David Porter

Executive Director